Highly Recommended Movies of the Month

This thread would be similar to Movies you watched this month but I want this thread to be the referral thread for best of the movies which are highly recommended or a must watch one. We see most of the movies but few turn out to be good and few just ordinary to lame. I want members to mention only those highly recommended, highly entertaining movies that you saw that particular month. I have seen some of the brilliant movies and went by the recommendations of few members from past few days. Here it goes, in particular order.

12 Angry Men – Just flawless… One of the best movies of its genre… 12 jury members are given a task to come out with unanimous decision after hearing all the facts about the ongoing case of murder where the stake of someone’s life rest on these 12 jury members. Before this movie I actually didn’t knew about the factual status of jury members. These jury members are normal people just like “you” and “me” who are chosen randomly to hear the case and the facts to give out their verdict. These 12 jury members consisted mostly of middle aged and fewer old people. It is such a fantastic movie that you all will be hooked till the end result. Even a normal person can be so unique if he has right kind of attitude, observation and resilience power. Highly recommended and thanks to Sputnik, AA, Cr, Shilac for recommending me this beautiful and Classy movie.

Hotel Rwanda – This film is highly recommended for two things.

One – It is based on true story that reveals bloody truth about human nature/mentality which led to the loss of One million African people that hardly anyone knows about it whereas everyone knows about massacre of Jews none knows about the massacre of these poor African people.

Two – Inspiring film that will move you to think about yourself and how you can make a difference.

There was already a rift between two rival groups/castes called Hututs and Tutsi which led to formation of tutsi rebels in order to overcome the atrocities of majority leaders of hututs. Due pressure from UN, Rwanda president sign’s a peace treaty with rebel tutsi but next president gets killed and rebel tutsi get blamed for the murder. This led to nation-wide spark and outrage against Tutsi’s and Hutut’s group plan to wipe out the entire race of Tutsi’s. Within this Rwanda city, a luxurious Hotel called Mille Collines provides shelter to many escapists under the guidance of house manager Rusesabagina who not only provides them shelter with but also put his family in risk saving other people. Ultimately he manages to save more 1700 people from ongoing bloodshed. It was thrilling, moving and Inspiring film and I would recommend you all to watch this movie once in a lifetime. It is almost similar to Schindlers’ List. I remember Sputnik recommending this movie when i made list of inspirational movie’s post.

Erin Bronkovich – A true story about a single mother of 3 who had just $75 dollar in a bank account, two time divorcee and $17500 in debt played by Julia Roberts manages to bring down a 28 Billion Dollar MNC forcing them to compensate huge amount to the victims or sufferers of hazardous chemical element called Chromium which had affected the lives of many. Julia Roberts was absolutely brilliant in enacting the role of Erin Bronkovich. I also liked the role of his employer, especially the reactions to julia’s outrageous confrontations. One thing is sure that most successful people are successful due to their hardwork and smartness than to their luck.

Into the Wild – I had skimmed through this film before but this time I had enough free time to take the risk of watching even a boring movie but to my surprise it turned out to be an Excellent movie. Second thing that surprised me was the actor Emile Hirsch was almost identical to Leonardo decaprio in most of the emotional, subtle moments or whenever he was restless… I didn’t understand whether he was trying hard to be Leonardo de caprio or was he himself just that the identical qualities happen to be coincidence? Anyways, I loved his acts the same way I loved leonardo’s and the story was very interesting till the end.

Based on true story of young Christopher Mc Candless a young 24 year old graduate who had all the grades to get into Harvard, embarks on a solo journey without money, without phone, without any credit cards pissed off from his vexed parents into the wild. Sean Penn has narrated Christophers story beautifully which consists of excellent background score and Fantastic Cinematogrpahy. It is recommended to all cinema lovers though Few may not like it but I would still recommend it to all.

The Imposter – Simple, predictable yet so thrilling and engaging, one hell of a documentary drama film that will surprise each and every kind of audience. From the title itself one starts gathering all the enquiries in their minds and starts predicting the fate of the movie. Even if one thinks he has guessed it right after few minutes it twists your mind again. I have seen many documentaries before as well but unlike “the Imposter” they don’t force you to play/guess what’s coming or what might be the outcome. The beauty of the movie is its Simplicity. It is based on True story about the Imposter who steals the identities of the missing children in order to satisfy himself of being loved by others. Thanks Suprabh for Recommendations

Argo – This film could have been the best film of the year if they had taken a little more care in the end. It has two best scenes, the Cinematography of which is outstanding. One is when the US Embassy in Iran is attacked and second when six diplomats along with Ben Affleck passes through the protest rally in the Van. They are not just excellent but hard hitting, impactful (the anger, protest, craziness) and well directed.

It is also based on true story where six US diplomats escape out of US Embassy in Iran and hide into Canadian Diplomats house when rest of their colleagues are captured by Iran Authority. Ben Affleck is appointed to get these men out of Iran and it is so hard to be true that they fooled the Iranian officials with a stupid gimmick called making a Scientific Film called “Argo”. Everything was going smoothly until the last 10 minutes which seemed as though director tried to give Goosebumps to audience or keep you on the edge of your seat but ultimately turned out almost similar to most of the other films on same genre. Anyways even this ending will surprise many and highly recommended movie.

Rain Man – Wanted to watch this movie for a long time and finally ended up catching it few days back. Rain Man is all about performance of Rain Man in the film, I would say he was just outstanding in his performance. Tom Cruise the young entrepreneur, energetic, egoistic, self-centered man who hates his father attends his father’s funeral where he comes to know that the $3 M property of his father is being awarded or entrusted to a Trust. Cruise getting pissed off tries to find the reason behind such ruthless will formation so that he could negotiate or get half of the will. In that trust for autistic he finds his brother (truth that was hidden from him) an autistic but high functioning, highly active and knowledgeable autistic which makes him more angry.

He kidnaps his brother so that he could trade him or his custody with half the property that should belong to him ultimately finds his rainman in his brother. I loved everything about the movie from the beginning till the end. It is a Highly recommended movie to all.

Flight – Denzel Washington never disappoints me and with Flight he gained a lot more respect than before. Everything about the movie from the performances, Cinematography, emotional content, thrills about the upcoming investigation and his addiction part are noteworthy. A little stretched but powerful is the flight. First 25-30 minutes is spectacular and from then the pace of the movie slows down for a while until the investigation starts to begin. The moment when the flight’s hydraulics system fails until the investigations starts is just brilliant. Even last 15 minutes or so are very important part of the film.

The Man from Earth – The narrative style of the movie is just excellent… It’s like a time travel movie via words or talk or by speech/narration. Nothing else is shown apart from a man talking to the bunch of professors about the series of happenings from 14000 years ago till the time of their own existent and claim to be born 14000 years ago. It is such thriller that keeps you engrossed till the end with a small twist at the end.

Don’t want to reveal exactly what it is about but it is the film that you Must Catch. Thank you, Suprab and Cr for suggesting this movie.

I was wondering where you disappeared but this is worth the wait. Excellent post.

Have seen all movies except The Imposter and The Man from Earth. Will check them out soon.

Love 12 Angry Men, Rain Man and Hotel Rwanda. These are my all time favorite movies. Liked Argo and Erin Bronkovich too. Liked Flight more for Denzel’s performance – a bit long though. Did not like Into the Wild. 😀

i was travelling for a while and right now I am in my hometown India. Didn’t get time to write but then there was enough time to watch 😉

“I had recommended Erin Bronkovich in your Inspirational Movies post” — Hmm.. I completely forgot about your recommendation about this film. I remembered “men of honor”, “hotel rwanda” and “remember the titans” which i downloaded instantly but didn’t find time to watch hotel rwanda at that time. Anyways thank you and keep recommending such movies as it feels great to watch such movies.

Yes The Terminal was one of the best movie of that particular year directed by Steven Speilber starring Tom Hanks and Zeta jones…. Catherine Zeta jones was worth Million bucks to her looks in this film. Such a small role but she made a difference. Indeed its a Highly Recommended movie…

Sorry to disagree with you FS but I Watched The Man from Earth and completely disagree that this movie is good. It was crap and boring as hell. All actors including the lead were pathetic and the movie seemed like it was shot using a camcorder.

All his other movies are rated very low on IMDB. This is definitely overrated on IMDB.

There was no intelligent conversation or any interesting stuff that the lead says that’s not already known. I had already researched about the myths associated with Jesus and Moses in the past so nothing of what he said was shocking to me. May be people who have not heard/read about these myths like this movie.

I knew quite a bit about ancient civilizations and Biblical world and its theories, including Old testament, New testament, Pagan philosophies (Huge Dan brown fan) and basically everything that was told in this movie …but I still rate it 10 on 10…because it engaged me a lot and I like innovative science fiction…The movie wasn’t about Jesus and Moses but about the concept/idea thats presented in the beginning of the movie. It was about the possibility of such science fiction to exist. I thought the actors performed rather well.. But, to each their own !!

Some guy having lived 1000s of years without aging after having reached a certain age and him just sitting and talking is not my idea of science fiction. The premise itself is so stupid and the twist is beyond stupid.

Why would those people get so worked up? He did not say anything that’s not known to learned people and these people were supposed to be professors.

The actors were bad. If they were good we would have seen them in other films too. The old guy with the gun is the only one who is a known face from before. When a movie is set in room or limited area and involves just talking the actors have to be brilliant to hold attention – something that 12 Angry Men has.

In fact I was reminded of those crappy softcore movies on cinemax where couples meet at a house and discuss relationships whereas here it was evolution and religion instead. Turns out that he has directed a playboy documentary 😉

Don’t knw why u both getting worked up… First of all let me tell u why i liked the movie… I knew tht director wanted to present him as the man frm 14000yr old n i wanted to see hw wud he manages to do tht… Like one guy kept saying tht everything be cud said frm textbooks but thing was he kept giving answers. For me most funny part was when he said he was jesus & i was laughing my axx out… Specially with the reaction of tht lady professor. It was like hw one can fool others but twist was for the sake of film. It was engaging throughout n those who like to spend chatting, discussing will very much like this movie…

Movies require a certain amount of finesse and for that you need a certain budget. The movie was supposedly shot in $56000. The thing is that any Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he is a filmmaker because he has a camcorder. Movies are about depiction so you have to show and for that you need budget and if you don’t have it don’t make the movie. This is not a radio show.

First of all the movie did not present him as a 14000 year old guy. The movie used silly excuses that he does not age at all in all those years, does not scar and all that nonsense. It was just a guy yapping.

Secondly if a guy is moving out and he has engaged the movers why is he moving his stuff by himself too? Why has he invited everyone at his house from which he is supposed to be moving out on the day of his moving? People don’t do that. They probably meet out or at someone else’s place – have a farewell party or something.

Third the movie could have had this very same discussion without the lead being this guy who miraculously lived for thousands of years. There was no need for this preposterous premise. Even if one assumes that this guy is the caveman who has lived through thousands of years he is no ordinary guy. He is Jesus himself. What are the odds.

And the lady’s character was such a Christian stereotype created just to ridicule.

He moves out every 10 years because he does not age? I know people who have not aged at all in 20 years.

I have seen and been involved in a discussion about Jesus after The Da Vinci Code came out and seen a Christian friend snap out at the argument that Jesus was not real or was not the way he has been described in Biblical stories.

Stories get exaggerated for effect when they are orally passed from one person to another. I had posted a scene long time back as SOTW let me post again.

Sputnik, I dont think the purpose of the movie was to use the “stupid” premise of a guy having lived for 14000 years to have discussions on history, religion and humanity. The purpose was to put forth the question – what if this is true? How will people acquainted with such a person react? What if the same person played different roles in different countries in different eras? It is not very dissimilar to the concept of avatars taken by Gods in hindu mythology. It is an interesting concept presented in a not very exciting or melodramatic way. I can understand you did not like the movie and to each his own, but I dont think it warrants getting worked up and questioning the right of the director to make the movie if he did not have the budget to make it. 🙂

“Why would those people get so worked up? He did not say anything that’s not known to learned people and these people were supposed to be professors. ”

They would have listened to him not believe him have a laugh and move on – not react in that stupid amateurish way as in the movie – as if he said that he slept with all their wives/mothers.

I don’t like Avatar either but what if James Cameron had made Avatar and talked abt blue planet and blue navis for the whole movie or taken some sub standard CGI to do it would people say oh its great film making?

Movies do get slammed for their cheap production values and this should too.

Yes, we can slam this movie for its production values, but fact of the matter is if it had a lot more budget, it would not have been the same movie. The director wanted to present a concept and he decided to do it through dialogue rather than CGI. Maybe the reason he did this was because he had no budget, but the absence of CGI does not make it a movie not fit to be made.

Again, to each his own. You did not like the movie – fair enough. You can slam it all you want – for its cheap production values, for its dull script or for its lack of novelty. 🙂

i liked the man from earth .why??because it didn’t bore me,kept me hooked till last moment.enough reason for me to like a movie. and i found the conversation pretty interesting. i didn’t know much about the stories may be thats the reason still…about performances ,yes i think it could have been better . but the cast did fair job imo

I saw The Man From Earth in 2009 on persistent recommendation by a close friend and really liked it. It is well-written and completely dialogue driven. The drama is very unfilmy and can get drab at times but the concept and proceedings are captivating and keep you guessing. The twist in the end is interesting though not fully satisfying. Overall, it is an interesting movie and although I may not want to watch it again, I definitely recommend it.